If You Protested The Presidential Primary in Wa You Weren’t Alone

A lot of ballots from the recent presidential election likely will not be counted in Yakima County or statewide. Auditor Charles Ross says the ballots can't be counted because some voters did not declare a political party when they signed their ballots.

THE SECRETARY OF STATE URGED EVERYONE TO VOTE BUT SOME DIDN'T FILL OUT THE BALLOT CORRECTLY

Secretary of State Steve Hobbs says Washington does not have caucuses nor requires voters to declare their party when they register to vote. He says on primary day, the parties need to know how people vote, which is why the question is asked on the ballot envelope.

ROSS SAYS MORE THAN 1,000 LOCAL BALLOTS WON'T BE COUNTED IN THE ELECTION 

Ross says there are currently 1,494 ballots in which people didn't mark all the areas for the ballots to be counted. Ross says that means less than 4% of voters who returned a ballot did not properly complete a party selection. Statewide, 60,000 ballots likely won't be counted.

ROSS SAYS HE BELIEVES A MAJORITY OF PEOPLE INTENTIONALLY MARKED THE BALLOT INCORRECTLY IN PROTEST

He says his office is required to contact voters to see if they want to correct ballots but he believes a majority of people were protesting the primary requirement of picking a party and then a candidate within the party. He says many voters disagreed with the party affiliation requirement on the outside of the ballot envelope.

MORE THAN 128,000 BALLOTS WERE SENT TO COUNTY VOTERS

Ross says the recent primary had the lowest turnout over the last two presidential primaries in Wa state.

• 2024  - 128,769 Voters 36,511 Returned 28.35% Returned
• 2020 -   119,761  Voters 47,840 Returned 39.95% Returned
• 2016  -   109,753 Voters 34,804 Returned 31.71% Returned